SJDers, Please allow me to share a student's paper on Lisa Phounsavath's poem in our SJD book 3 called "Gentle Butterfly" Thank you, Toon Publication Core ________________________________________________________ Reflection of a Gentle Butterfly By Diane Delaney English 113 (Literature-Based Research) In her poem "Gentle Butterfly", Lisa Phounsavath savours her emtional surrender to her muse with gentle eyes. She begins by relating that she did not recognize her need when she describes it as "something i've nver missed beyond any great measure" in the first line, which is followed by "a void whose existence was yet unknown." She quickly asserts that she has been conquered in her verse "in your beautiful eyes are the things which capture me," yet she confesses that they are "those i cannot see because they are too clear." They are the things which are invisible to her; they are too clear because they are invisible. Surely, it is difficult to see when one is blinded by love and has a perspective of inside looking out. What she cannot see is her own reflection mirrored in her loved one. She credits her loved one with god-like powers when she declares "you metamorphose me in time, slowly, gently, tenderly." She claims that her loved one is "painting your vivid creativity on dull canvas" yet is unable to see that she is the creative force in this relationship. she merely imagines that her loved one has an "unending reserve of imagination." In truth, she has projected her own wonderful attributes onto someone else and has given that person the power to define her self-image. I feel confident that the voice in this poem is the voice of the poet because the experience she portrays is so intense. The final stanza begins "no present conception can mirror the depth of your intense sparkling eyes," and I see her tasting the approval she seeks. Fortunately, she recognizes that it is only the present conception that she is concerned with. for in her final lines, she again lauds "a void never perceived as such filled by the mere glimpse/of your gentle eyes and as easily emptied again by the same." I can only hope that she is not emptied again unless she is totally spent weaving the lovely patterns of her words while creating a new conception that can mirror the depth of her own soul's passion.